Insurance incentive program for promoting the purchase or lease of an automobile

• US 7,801,750 B1
• Filed: 07/11/2007
• Issued: 09/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: In The Car LLC
• Original Assignee: Disruptive Technologies, Ltd.
• Inventors: Jackson, Jasper, Wallach, Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): O'Connor; Gerald J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): ALTSCHUL, AMBER L
• Application Number:
  US11/776,502
• Time in Patent Office: 1,168 Days
• Field of Search: 705/2, 705/3, 705/4
• US Class Current: 705/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0645 Rental transactions; Leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance

Abstract

Included in the terms of a purchase or lease agreement, particularly pertaining to automobiles, a party having a business relationship with the seller or lessor, or the seller or lessor itself, agrees to provide a policy, including at least collision and/or comprehensive coverage, to a qualified buyer. The insurance coverage protects against losses related to the item being purchased or leased for a predetermined period of time. To be qualified, the purchaser or lessor must reside in a particular geographic region and purchase or lease, for example, a particular make and model of automobile. No further characteristics of the purchaser or lessor are considered in obtaining the insurance policy. The sale or lease of the item and provision of the insurance policy may be completed over a computer network, such as the Internet.

Claims

1. A processor-implemented method for providing an automobile transaction incentive, comprising:

receiving an indication of an automobile transaction, wherein the automobile transaction involves;

selling an automobile to a buyer or leasing the automobile to a lessee and providing by a third party a personal automobile insurance policy for the automobile;

verifying that the model of the automobile involved in the transaction qualifies as an eligible model for the transaction incentive, wherein the transaction incentive involves providing the personal automobile insurance policy to the buyer or lessee;

verifying that the automobile transaction occurs in a geographic region that has been designated as eligible for the transaction incentive;

determining via a processor an insurance premium associated with providing the personal automobile insurance policy to the buyer or lessee;

facilitating payment of the insurance premium by the third parry to an insurance provider after the geographic region and automobile mobile have been verified as eligible for the transaction incentive; and

providing the insurance policy to the buyer or lessee without consideration of the buyer'"'"'s or lessee'"'"'s personal characteristics.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the personal automobile insurance policy includes personal liability insurance.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the personal automobile insurance policy includes automobile collision insurance coverage.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the personal automobile insurance policy includes comprehensive insurance coverage.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the personal characteristics include the buyer'"'"'s or lessee'"'"'s previous traffic citations or previous traffic accidents.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the personal characteristics include the buyer'"'"'s or lessee'"'"'s personal driving record.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the personal characteristics include the number of or character of previous insurance claims submitted by the buyer or lessee.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the personal automobile insurance policy includes the state mandated minimum insurance necessary to obtain a driver'"'"'s license in the state in which the buyer or lessee resides.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the premium is determined based on the characteristics of the class of automobile, anticipated demographics associated with a class of buyers or lessees and the geographic region of the transaction.

10. An apparatus for providing an automobile transaction incentive comprising:

a processor; and

a memory in electrical communication with the processor, the memory for storing a plurality of processing instructions for enabling the processor to;

receive an indication of an automobile transaction with the transaction incentive, wherein the automobile transaction involves;

selling an automobile to a buyer or leasing the automobile to a lessee and

providing by a third parry a personal automobile insurance policy for the automobile;

verify that the model of the automobile involved in the transaction qualifies as an eligible model for the transaction incentive, wherein the transaction incentive involves providing the personal automobile insurance policy to the buyer or lessee;

verify that the automobile transaction occurs in a geographic region that has been designated as eligible for the transaction incentive;

determine an insurance premium associated with providing the personal automobile insurance policy to the buyer or lessee;

facilitate payment by the third parry of the insurance premium to an insurance provider after the geographic region and automobile mobile have been verified as eligible for the transaction incentive; and

provide the insurance policy to the buyer or lessee without consideration of the buyer'"'"'s or lessee'"'"'s personal characteristics.

11. A processor-implemented method for determining an insurance premium associated with providing insurance to a buyer or lessee of an item, comprising:

receiving information identifying a class of items for which insurance is to be provided to a buyer or lessee of one of the class of items by a third parry entity;

receiving an indication of a geographic region in which the buyer or lessee must reside to receive the insurance; and

determining via a processor a premium to be charged for an insurance policy issued to the buyer or lessee, the premium being based on the characteristics of the class of items, the anticipated demographics of the buyer or lessee and the geographic region of the transaction, without consideration of individual characteristics of the buyer or lessee and paid for by the third party entity.

12. A processor-implemented method for facilitating an automobile transaction, comprising:

receiving a customer'"'"'s transaction information associated with an automobile transaction, wherein the customer'"'"'s transaction information includes driver'"'"'s license information, and wherein the automobile transaction involves either the sale or lease of an automobile;

determining that the customer resides in a geographic region which is approved for a transaction incentive for a particular automobile without determining whether the customer is insurable;

transmitting via a processor the customer'"'"'s transaction information to a third party for providing insurance to said customer without assessing the customer'"'"'s insurability characteristics;

receiving from said third party, via a processor, insurance policy information for the customer associated with the underlying automobile transaction, wherein the insurance policy has a premium paid by the third party and determined independent of the customer'"'"'s insurability characteristics; and

providing the insurance policy information to the customer in connection with said automobile transaction.

13. A processor-implemented method for facilitating an automobile transaction by providing an insurance policy to a buyer or lessee of said automobile, comprising:

receiving a customer'"'"'s transaction information associated with an automobile transaction, wherein the customer'"'"'s transaction information includes driver'"'"'s license information and payment information, wherein the automobile transaction is either the sale or lease of an automobile, and wherein said payment information is for payment for the sale or lease of the automobile and not for payment of an insurance policy for said automobile;

determining that the customer resides in a geographic region which is approved for a transaction incentive involving said automobile;

transmitting via a processor the customer'"'"'s transaction information to a third party for providing insurance to said customer without assessing the individual driving record of said customer other than said geographic region in which said customer resides;

receiving from said third party, via a processor, insurance policy information for the customer associated with the underlying automobile transaction, wherein the insurance policy has a premium paid by the third party and determined independent of the customer'"'"'s insurability characteristics; and

providing the insurance policy information to the customer in connection with said automobile transaction.

14. The processor-implemented method for facilitating an automobile transaction by providing an insurance policy to a buyer or lessee of said automobile of claim 13, wherein the incentive is a third party paid insurance policy provided as part of the automobile transaction in place of at least one other sales incentive.

15. The processor-implemented method for facilitating an automobile transaction by providing an insurance policy to a buyer or lessee of said automobile of claim 14, wherein the third party paid insurance policy is provided in place of a rebate.

16. The processor-implemented method for facilitating an automobile transaction by providing an insurance policy to a buyer or lessee of said automobile of claim 14, wherein the third party paid insurance policy provided in place of a lowered financing interest rate.

17. The processor-implemented method for facilitating an automobile transaction by providing an insurance policy to a buyer or lessee of said automobile of claim 14, wherein the third party paid insurance policy is provided in place of an extended warranty.